Two and a Half Years Later
"Rei, it's the first day in over a month that it isn't raining." Isana paced back and forth from the door to the window, sandy ponytail swinging. "We should be out there. I should be out there."
"I'm not keeping you here," Rei replied, turning to the next page of her novel. "Go on. Have fun. Enjoy the clouds."
Isana collapsed on Rei's bed, groaning dramatically. "You are the worst friend."
"Just be grateful I'm letting you spend the night."
"Oh, I am. Koichi's going to be here, right?"
"Isn't he always?"
"Just checking." Isana rolled over onto her back, legs dangling off the edge of the bed. "You're so lucky to live on your own. And I mean that in the least offensive way possible; it sucks that you have no parents. But at least no one yells at you when you want to have a boy over."
"Eh," Rei shrugged. "Emiko kind of yelled at me once, but if we're old enough to go out there and die, I think we're old enough to decide where we sleep."
"Man, I've got to make that argument to my mom."
"Don't. She'll never let you come over again."
"What are we eating tonight?"
Rei shut her book. It was a lost cause to try and read when Isana was over. "Whatever Koichi brings with him. I told him you were staying, so he should bring plenty."
Isana sighed airily. "One of these days, I am going to seduce that boy."
"Just don't do it in my apartment." Rei tied her hair back and pulled on a jacket. "Come on, let's go enjoy the clouds."
The Hidden Rain Village had been good to the Mist refugees.
Rei was locking her door behind her at the same time that Emiko was sneaking out of Niko Sensei's apartment. Rei shook her head in mock disappointment. "Mm, mm, mm. In the middle of the day, too."
Emiko blushed, her chakra flickering with her surprise at being noticed. She and Niko Sensei had been together for almost two years, but they were determined not to move in together. Which resulted in the occasional awkward encounter. "Your shirt's on backwards," Isana pointed out, and Emiko looked at the ceiling in exasperation.
"Don't you girls have anything better to do? Somewhere to be?"
"Not really," Rei said. "But we're gone." They waved goodbye to Emiko and descended the stairs, giggling at the color in the older woman's face.
"Hope the Head of Threat Detection knows how to use protection," Isana joked, not for the first time.
"Do you know how to use protection?"
"Puh-leeze," Isana drew out. "Just because I'm a virgin doesn't mean I'm uneducated."
"Just making sure," Rei laughed. "The last thing I need is a mini-Koichi running around annoying me as much as the original one does."
"Keep joking. One of these days, that boy will be mine."
It wasn't raining, but the sky overhead still managed to look angry. The girls sidestepped puddles and chatted about the latest episode of the serial out of the Land of Stone. "No missions on the docket today, girls?" The old lady who ran the small bakery across the street from Rei's apartment building smiled at them as she wiped down the shop's smudged window.
"Not today, Grandma Kura!" Isana called back. "We do tomorrow, though!"
The old lady nodded and wiped her hands on her apron. "Stop by my shop before you leave in the morning and I'll have pastries ready for you." They thanked her and moved on.
"Let's go on and grab your stuff from your house so you don't have to worry about it later," Rei suggested, but when they arrived at Isana's house, her mother was waiting for them on the front steps, arms crossed.
"Young lady," Isana's mother said sternly. "Did you forget something before you left this morning?"
Isana sighed loudly. "What did I forget, mom?"
"Take a wild guess."
When Isana shrugged in annoyance, her mother said, "You left your weapons pouch on the kitchen table. I found your brother with a kunai blade in his mouth. In his mouth, Isana! I have a mind to keep you home tonight." Without waiting for a response from the girls, the woman turned and marched back inside.
"Mom!" Isana called desperately. "I've got to smooth this over, Rei. See you tonight." Then she ran inside, letting the door swing shut behind her slowly.
Hands in her pockets, Rei surveyed Isana's neighborhood, now alone. The houses here were actual houses, not grey skyscrapers, and the people who lived here were obviously a bit more well-to-do, but Rei wouldn't trade her tiny apartment for one of these houses. At least in her apartment, there was the surety that her family was next door and down the hall.
"Alright, then," she said to herself. Turning back the way she'd come, she figured now was as good a time as any to stop back by Lord Hanzo's tower. A sharp twinge in her chest forced her eyes shut for a moment, but she kept walking with determination.
She strode through the front doors, leaving her jacket with the guards. "Hey, Rei," they said familiarly.
"Hey, guys. Anyone interesting come through yet?"
"Only you," Kenshi said, playfully flirting. "You know what would make my day even more interesting? Let me take you out tonight."
"Gross," Rei replied. "You're like twenty-five."
"I'm seventeen, for your information."
"Date someone your own age." They went through similar banter every time, and Rei nodded to the handler by the stairs. For the last year, she'd been one of the handful of Shinobi allowed to see Lord Hanzo without submitting to the search.
She climbed the flights of stairs effortlessly, and when she arrived on Lord Hanzo's floor, she pressed the intercom button outside his office to let him know she'd arrived. The door buzzed and she entered, no longer overcome by the now-familiar cloud of orange chakra that always surrounded the leader of the village.
"I had a feeling you might come by today," Lord Hanzo said, not looking up from a ledger before him. "I wanted to check in before the mission tomorrow anyway. How are you feeling?"
Raising a hand to her chest, Rei inhaled carefully, turning her mind inward. The ball of compressed chakra behind her ribs slept, responding only minimally when she prodded it. "It's a little hard to breathe around it sometimes, but it's contained. It hasn't spoken."
"Well, it was an experiment, anyway," Lord Hanzo said thoughtfully. "No one knows?"
"I haven't told anyone."
"Not even your family?"
"No one."
"Good." Lord Hanzo stood, still towering over her even though she'd grown several inches since first arriving in the Rain. "It's been ten days since the initial implantation. If it doesn't wake by day twenty, we'll talk about removing it and trying it with someone else again." He shook his head regretfully. "What a shame that we can't place Seals on you."
"Tell me about it," Rei muttered.
"You're nearing a point where you'd be a real threat to the Mizukage," Lord Hanzo said. "You three have shown remarkable progress."
Frustration ballooned in Rei's chest, and the chakra ball shifted. "Being a threat isn't going to be enough. We have to be certain we can win, or there's no point. If we fight him and fail, we will never have another chance. That's why…" Her hand rested on her chest again, willing a secondary voice to speak to her mind.
"Ten more days, Rei. Then we look for another host."
"Yes, sir."